Supertown plan floated to revive bush

BEN HARVEY STATE POLITICAL EDITOR, The West Australian Updated February 10, 2011, 2:52 am

Small towns such as Moora, Jurien Bay, Collie, Katanning and Mt Barker would be turned into thriving "supertowns" where tens of thousands of residents enjoyed city-standard facilities under a State Government plan which would relieve pressure on Perth.

Nationals leader Brendon Grylls will today outline a major shift in the way cash from the Royalties for Regions fund is spent, with the new policy to form an important part of his party's bid to win more seats at the next State poll due next year.

Mr Grylls will tell policy think tank the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia that a number of smaller towns throughout the southern half of WA will be showered with new facilities and government services which will be comparable to those available in Perth and bigger regional centres.

"We have tentatively called this policy 'Supertowns' and we are looking at places like Collie, Jurien, Manjimup, Mt Barker, Merredin, Katanning and Moora," he said yesterday.

Mr Grylls said the Pilbara Cities policy, which the State Government believes will enable Port Hedland and Karratha to evolve into modern cities, would be adapted to other towns.

Government investment in key services and infrastructure would be used as a carrot to lure private business.

"Kalgoorlie, Albany, Geraldton and Bunbury are already thriving cities in their own right but there are a lot of towns just under them, the Collies, the Jurien Bays, the Northams, and places like that, which, if you look at those sorts of towns in the eastern States, are 20,000 or 30,000 population towns," he said.

"In WA we just don't have that.

"What I don't think has ever happened (by Government) is that there has never been enough money to say 'right, we are going to do the lot, we are going to make sure that we have got the school at the level that people expect, we are going to make sure that we have got the hospital at a certain level'."

Mr Grylls said improving social amenities in the towns, from making streetscapes more attractive to increasing the number of dining-out options, was another important step.

"If you can't buy a cup of coffee it is going to be pretty difficult to convince someone that they want to live there," he said.

Mr Grylls said economic projects like the $3.5 billion urea plant planned for Collie, intensive horticulture in Moora and the $165 million immigration detention centre in Northam were not enough by themselves to draw in and retain residents.

"All of these towns have got a few things going for them but there are too many gaps," he said.

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Sillyb07:32am Thursday 10th February 2011 WSTReport Abuse
Yet virtually all farming regions from Geraldton to Esperance are drought ridden overworked dust bowls that are going dodo. So the "Super Towns" are going to service all the Farmers that are walking away? Where are the "Super Towns" going to get their water - or income - from?
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John McD07:46am Thursday 10th February 2011 WSTReport Abuse
It won't work - theres not enough people in Perth let alone in the towns. You need millions of people in Perth before considering this.
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Sport07:50am Thursday 10th February 2011 WSTReport Abuse
Good idea. No need for Mt Barker though. Albany is only 20 minutes from it. Also I would rather see super super towns. 100 thousand plus. Geralton and Albany,Busso and Karratha would be my choises for 100 plus. Broom for 30 000. Throw a Casino into Karratha and give the workers somewhere to throw...
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Sillyb07:53am Thursday 10th February 2011 WSTReport Abuse
This is obviously a directive from Herr Barnett to garner some votes and give the impression of RFR being more than a shamozzle leading up to next election. As with all the rest of this so called Government nothing will come of it except hot air. (more global warming)
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Ray08:31am Thursday 10th February 2011 WSTReport Abuse
This is the biggest load of rubbish I have heard in a long time. You cant build a town for a towns sake. There needs to be a reason for the town and the work and the infrastructure will come. Just as Boddington is set to become a bigger town because of the Gold deposits. The reason Quennsland has...
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Bill Andrews08:38am Thursday 10th February 2011 WSTReport Abuse
Great idea! Locating State Government agencies, in part or whole, in regional towns is the aspect of decentralisation that Government controls. For example split the Department of Agriculture and Food between Manjimup and Northam.
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66609:05am Thursday 10th February 2011 WSTReport Abuse
Barney can't keep the hospitals up to scratch in Perth, so what hope will these supertowns have with their hospitals, then you have the other supplies like power and water, can't see it working.
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newbie423109:12am Thursday 10th February 2011 WSTReport Abuse
Talk is cheap, fed up with governments of both sides doing nothing. They keep peddling out bold programs that come to nothing in the long run. Look at how long they took to complete the Indian Ocean Drive so what hope is there for major town development. Look at the sinking of the railway, swan...
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Joe Bloggs09:49am Thursday 10th February 2011 WSTReport Abuse
Well how about extending the Mandurah train line down to Manjimup and other small towns. The cost of petrol makes it too expensive to get to these towns.
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Joe10:04am Thursday 10th February 2011 WSTReport Abuse
Quite right Martin, train lines servicing towns north and south for both passengers & freight could have major benifets. Particulary for tourism, we have many great places worth visting but getting to them is can be expencive & not easy.
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